It’s been so busy today that I forgot to eat. This really has gotten me to think about having healthy snack, ready to eat at a moments notice. And I’m not talking apples and carrot, which I do have, but something fun for my mouth. Which made me think of a conversation I had earlier in the day with a customer. She has young, school age children who are feeling better, since they have been taking our Propolis oil. But the girls are not crazy about the taste of Olive oil and Propolis. I don’t blame them. It’s not a taste that I crave either:) But like them, I do take it every day! So I suggested she add the Propolis oil in a salad and if she bought some beebread she could add that t0 the girls morning oatmeal or in a yummy smoothie. Propolis tincture can be added to any fruit drinks. Added it to anything if you don’t want to take it straight down your throat. She laughed and asked for some recipes.

First off…

If you don’t know what Propolis is, it’s a resin that the Honeybee gather from tops of trees bud and the bark. They mix it with their enzymes and then they plaster the whole inside of the hive.

It helps insulate the hive, it helps clean the hive and it protects the hive from bacteria and viruses. This same Propolis that helps fight sickness in the hive, will also protect us from the the same viruses and bacteria floating and hanging about us. Propolis icontains flavonoids that are anti viral, anti bacterial, anti microbial, anti fungal and an anti-inflammatory Propolis can be a great dietary supplement to enhance your overall health and boost immunity.

BeeBread is Pollen and Honey mixed together. BeeBread is filled with everything you need to energize your day, workout or recovery. It is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protein and iron that will benefit people of all ages and boost the immune system.

Flying about from flower to flower, bees collect pollen in the pollen baskets on their legs and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing. The pollen pellets and honey are combined and ferment until the the hard shell of the pollen is dissolve. At that time the bee will feast on it and feed it to their grwoing young.

So back to my phone conversation and my hungry stomach. How can you get Propolis and BeeBread

into you daily route? Here are a three recipes!

Stay Healthy with the Power of BEES

Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

Original recipe makes 1 -1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

1 cupolive oil

1/2- 1 tsp of BEEpothecaryPropolis Oil

1/3 cupapple cider vinegar

1/4 cupBEEpothecary wildflower honey

3 tablespoonschopped fresh basiL

2 clovesgarlic, minced

PREPARATION

In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, basil, and garlic. Pour over or toss with your favorite salad to serve

Pineapple Coconut Bites

INGREDIENTS

Makes: About 20 cookies

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

INGREDIENTS

FILLING

1 1/4 cups canned crushed pineapple, slightly drained

1 tablespoon BEEpothecary honey

1 tablespoon cornstarch

DOUGH

1/2 cup almonds

6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsalted cold butter

3 tablespoons Propolis Coconut oil or Propolis Olive oil

2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION

To prepare filling: Spoon pineapple into a small saucepan with honey and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Let cool.

To prepare dough: Meanwhile, process almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add confectioners’ sugar; process to combine. Add whole-wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour; process to combine. Drop butter by the tablespoon through the feed tube, processing briefly after each addition. Add oil and pulse once or twice. Add coconut, cornstarch, salt and vanilla and process just until the mixture resembles crumbly, fine meal, but will hold together if pressed.

Reserve a scant 1/2 cup of tart dough to use as crumbled topping.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini muffin pans with 20 paper cups.

Drop a scant tablespoon of dough into each paper cup. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the cup, making a well in the center, to form a miniature crust. Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of the pineapple filling into each crust and top each with some of the reserved crumbs.

Bake until the topping is golden brown and the crust is cooked through (watch carefully toward the end and move the pan to the bottom rack if the top begins to brown before the bottom crust is done), 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pans.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Your Vote is Needed!

Wells Fargo Works for Small Business

We posted our application to the Wells Fargo Small Business Contest. Please go to this website every day and vote for BEEpothecary. You can vote multiple time, just on different devices or log into WF multiple times. This will give us a chance to win $25,000 and mentoring for our business! Go and vote now!

1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

All I want to do is get my garden growing! It’s all I have on my mind, these days. Do I have all my seeds? Where are the shipments? Did I remember to buy non-GMO seeds? When can I get farmer Bud to till up the garden? Why am I so late, in thinking about all of these? Potato SEEDS???? ugh!:(

Yesterday, I was wandering around the yard, watching the clover grow and contemplating the future of my back yard. When I happened upon my wonderful rhubarb plant.

How lovely you are little, big plant! I didn’t think of you and yet here you are. What a blessing:)

A good friend, a couple years ago, gave me a bit of hers. Now I have, this honkin’ mass of beautiful rhubarb. Each stalk is at less, an inch in thickness and two feet long. I pulled out the biggest and longest stalk and then took a bite off the end! WoooDoggy was it tart! I felt like a kid all over.

Growing up in Michigan, My mother always had a plant or two her garden or along a fence line. My sister’s and I would each get a cup of white sugar and a short rhubarb stalk and go to town on it. Dipping the stack in the sugar and then gnawing on the sweet fibers to mix the two flavors. Yummy!

A few days ago my daughter had a birthday. She loves rhubarb. So, I thought for her big Birthday Bash, I would make something with Rhubarb! I came across multiple recipes and with a little experimenting, I made this for Hanna!

Directions:Heat oil in a medium saute pan. Add the shallots, allspice, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until just softened. Add the ginger and cook 1 minute more. Add the rhubarb, honey and water to the pan. Cook until the rhubarb is just tender — you don’t want it to fall apart. Remove fruit heat and stir in red wine vinegar.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12NIV

PS I’m not a great blogger, but I do love passing on this love of all things delicious! If my grammar, spelling and punctuation is not correct please forgive me. I pray you can see pass that and see you heart.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

The day has come for me to change my eating habits. I’ve been trying to lose a few extra cheeky pounds. Really, I’m ok with my weight and how I look, but when last years summer shorts are far to tight around my mid-section. It’s time to change something to drop a few inches off my girly waistline.

Yesterday, My husband took me to lunch at our friends new cafe’ . It’s called The WELL! They create amazing vegan salads, soup, glutenfree breads and treats along with their very own roasted coffee. Lunch was delicious! Should I try this???

So today, I’ve decided to try my hand at veganizm. Really, I need to go gluten-free! I bet I would feel better but that means no more bread!!!!

Oh Lord, you need to help this girl! She can only do this, if YOU help her!

OK! I’m starting with salads that are tasted!

I hate bland foods! Did you hear me! I hate bland diet foods!

This is going to be an interesting journey! I hope I can get your support and ideas!

Chicory and Arugula Salad with Honey Vinaigrette Recipe

Some people like the bitterness of chicory and arugula, but in too large a quantity, the greens can be overwhelming. This straightforward salad tosses the bitter lettuces in a slightly sweet honey vinaigrette to balance things out. Add the crunch of toasted walnuts, and you’ve got a satisfying starter any day of the week.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey, and measured salt and pepper in a small, nonreactive bowl. While constantly whisking, add the oil by pouring it in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Whisk until all the oil is incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Pour the vinaigrette over the reserved greens and, using your hands, mix to coat the salad. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Top with the walnuts and serve.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

IT’S Spring! I love this time of year. It starts in February sometime…You know the weather! You open up the door, to what you think is going to be fridged, cold winter air, but you are surprised with a warm 50 degrees that you feel crosses your face. You begin to smell and hear the first signs of spring peeking into your backyard.

My dream Lavender garden:)

Let me repeat that in different words, the on and off of warm days, along with that sweet smell of purple flowers growing in your garden plots. aahhh! Such Sweetness! lol

So, I feel Spring is here, even though, the weather man says we are getting a nor-eastern tonight.

Bring it on! One last hoorah, winter. ONE LAST HOORAH! I mean it!!!!

Spring brings herbs, plants and Lavender!!! I am a fein for lavender! I love the smell, the look, and the feel that this little flower produces. I’m getting ready for spring planting and I need little inspiration! So here is a yummy sweet treat thats a bit on the unordinary but a lotta-bit on the delicious!

Sweet Honey Lavender and Coconut Treats

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Dried Plums or Figs – I used plums, because thats what I had in the cupboard.

1/4 cup Flax seeds

2 TBSP Chia seeds

1 TBSP Lavender buds

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a food processor, blend the coconut into a powder, then add lavender and blend some more. Then add figs or plums until well blended. Finally add the honey, flax seed and chia seed. Finish by pulsing until well blended. Ball up with a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop. place on platter and serve or scoop and place in sealed container and ‘frigerate.

I eat three of these with a glass of water as a mid-day snack! This recipe is a great way to get protein, fiber, and antioxidants.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Everyone!

My Favorite Color is Green, My Father and my husbands father, have ancestors from Ireland and Scotland. We love to eat corn beef, sauerkraut and hash. We welcome a good dark porter beer or a Guinness stout at our table. As a child, I always wanted to see the end of a rainbow. A few extra gold coins would have been a nice surprise for my folks. Today, I’m happy right where I am. I have an Unfailing Faith, good friends and family around, a wonderful husband to share life with and some good ole’ hard work, everyday!

Here are a few Irish proverbs

1. May the luck of the Irish be with you!

2. If you want praise, die. If you want blame, marry.

3. Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold pint and another one!

4. If you’re enough lucky to be Irish… You’re lucky enough!

5. May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far.

6. A man may live after losing his life but not after losing his honour.

7. “All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.” – Sean O’Casey

8. You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your father was.

9. It is often that a person’s mouth broke his nose.

10. It is better to spend money like there’s no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there’s no money!

Tonight, I needed to come up with a dish that is green:) So, I searched my pantry, ‘frigerator, chicken coop and garage..that’s where I store, last seasons garlic. I came up with an old favorite with a little twist of sweetness.

We are having a “not so” traditional St. Paddy’s day dinner. Instead we would like to celebrate with an American Irish Breakfast: Eggs, corn-beef hash, fried bacon, sour dough bread, coffee with St Brendan’s irish cream.

Cut the top 1/2 inch off each head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Set the garlic in the center of a square of heavy aluminum foil. Pour 1 teaspoon of the honey and 1 teaspoon of the olive oil over the garlic, replace the tops, and fold up the sides of the foil to make a package, crimping the top tight. Bake until very tender and golden, 40 to 45 minutes.

Transfer the baked garlic to a bowl, including all the juices in the foil pouch. When cool enough to handle, remove the garlic heads and carefully pop out the garlic cloves by pushing up from the bottom; try to keep the cloves intact. Add the remaining teaspoon honey and tablespoon olive oil and gently stir to combine.

Heat a very wide skillet over medium heat, and add the butter and pine nuts. When they begin to sizzle and turn golden brown, add half of the Swiss chard. Cook, stirring, until the greens wilt, a minute or two. Add the remaining chard. Once all of the chard is wilted, season with salt and pepper, and cook until most of the liquid has simmered off, another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the honey-roasted garlic to the chard, mix very gently to combine, and serve. you can also add chopped almond and cranberries to add a little crunch. either way, you will have them coming back for more.

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Dinners like tonight, are bitter sweet. No one’s home but me and I’m really hungry! So I decide to create a honey dish that will knock my socks off. If it fails, I’m the only one who will know…But without anyone to eat with, makes it hard for me to want to cook! Well, If pete has to work late, I guess I can put in a few more creative minutes-and Cook!

So I decide to make Herb and Honey Butter Chicken

I love how the honey’s sweetness mixes perfectly with the herb’s salty flavor. It’s a wonderful combination!

Herb and Honey Butter Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)

3 tablespoons butter

HONEY BUTTER:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

Directions

Place egg in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs and seasonings. Dip chicken in egg, then coat with bread crumb mixture.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter for 4-5 minutes on each side Meanwhile, combine butter and honey. Serve with chicken.

So after making this fantastic meal. I have to wait for Pete to come home before, I can eat:(. I did taste it and it verrrrry good. So good that by the time my Hold-me-till-dinner smoothie is ready. I’ve picked at my chicken and just about eaten a whole piece. Haha! No one is here, so in this perfect world, it never happened:) My pineapple kale smoothie was pretty darn good too! I’l give you that recipe another time:) Happy, Happy Eating!